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IC World View 8/7/97- Pipes: Established Religion in Russia?

LEGISLATION OF CHURCH AND STATE: ESTABLISHED RELIGION IN RUSSIA?

By Richard Pipes

Richard Pipes is a professor of history and has previously served as director of Russian studies at Harvard University. He is also a contributing editor of IntellectualCapital.com.

August 7, 1997

In the turmoil that has afflicted Russia since the downfall of the Soviet Union nearly six years ago, the Orthodox Church has played a minor part. Its persecution has stopped; its churches have slowly reopened; and it has become customary for the Patriarch to participate, side by side with government officials, at great state occasions. The new constitution assures Russian citizens of religious freedoms: The orthodox church enjoys no special status, at least officially.

Thus it came as a surprise when suddenly last month, the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, took a step which points to new restrictions on religious freedom in favor of Orthodoxy. By an overwhelming vote of 300 to 8, the Duma passed a law which, as had been habit in Soviet days, carried a totally misleading title of "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations." Approved by the Federation Council, the parliament's upper chamber, the law restores communist discrimination against all religious organizations which are not officially recognized. Currently, other than Orthodoxy the only three faiths recognized are Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism.

In order to obtain license to function, all other religions will have to register with the government during the next year and a half, furnishing detailed information on their doctrines and membership. Under the new law, the Catholic and Protestant churches enjoy no official status, which means that they are prohibited from carrying on religious work or owning property on the territory of the Russian Federation. If strictly enforced, the law will lead to the closing of their churches, especially the numerous Catholic parishes, scattered across the country.

The unconstitutional law was almost certainly passed to protect Orthodoxy from the proselytizing activities of other Christian faiths, for which reason it received the prompt blessing of Patriarch Aleksii II. It is no coincidence that the three legitimized religions do not threaten Orthodox Christianity.

Religious nationalism on the rise

The Orthodox church has always concerned itself primarily with the spiritual succor and salvation of souls, staying out of politics and ignoring social problems. In tsarist times, it supported autocracy. In Communist times, after an initial phase of fierce resistance, it capitulated and made its peace with a government that inflicted on the country, especially its religious institutions, unprecedented suffering. Its conservatism and aloofness from the everyday concerns of the people, its failure to provide moral leadership, have made the Orthodox establishment vulnerable to inroads by other Christian denominations. This was true already of tsarist Russia whose government treated conversion from the established Orthodox church as a crime. The new law is an effort to stanch the gains which foreign denominations have been making among Russians: It is a major step in the direction of acknowledging the Orthodox Church as the official faith of Russia, and a repudiation of the principle of separation of state

and church.

President Yeltsin last week refused to sign the bill into law but the lopsided vote in both houses of parliament makes it likely that his veto will be overridden. In rejecting the new legislation the president risks alienating a large part of the population, which considers the church the most trustworthy of all Russian institutions: A recent poll reveals that it enjoys the confidence of 54% of the nation. This is not a very impressive figure except when compared to the 11% who trust the federal government and the 10% who have faith in parliament.

Yeltsin's opponents claim that his rejection of the bill was dictated from abroad: Patriarch Aleksii has compared the influx of foreign churches to the expansion eastward of NATO. Xenophobia is thus once again rearing its ugly head in Russia: As in tsarist days, religion fuses with statehood and nationalism to thwart democracy and civil rights.

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Johnson's Russia List

#1112

10 August 1997

djohnson@cdi.org